A Weston man whose ‘years of violence’ against his partner included assaulting her with one hand while holding their baby with the other has been jailed for four months.

Jeferson Disney, aged 28 and of Coleridge Road, admitted attacking ex-girlfriend Brittany Parrotte on three occasions between October last year and January, as well as three counts of criminal damage, North Somerset Courthouse heard this week.

The court was told the first assault occurred on October 20, shortly after the pair had split up, after they began arguing.

Disney grabbed Ms Parrotte by the neck and threw her into her kitchen, before smashing a mirror and breaking a pair of her straighteners in anger.

On December 27, he was left in charge of their children when she went out, but she returned to find he had broken crockery and written offensive messages about her on the kitchen wall.

In another argument in early January he pulled a landline from the wall, and days later returned to her house when the front door was left open by a decorator.

Kevin Blackmore, prosecuting, told the court: “Mr Disney came in at around 2.20pm, entered the lounge, and picked up their one-year-old son.

“He started to shout and accuse Ms Parrotte of seeing other men. She asked him to leave, but he refused until their other children were home.

“He grabbed the victim by the throat and pushed her against a wall, while continuing to hold their child at the same time.”

He came back again in the early hours of January 22 and was let in by Ms Parrotte, after he claimed he had been thrown out by his mother.

But he turned violent when she asked him to leave the following morning, before he threatened to kill her and punched her in the head.

In a statement, Ms Parrotte said she ‘had to put up with violence for years’ and added she wanted nothing more to do with Disney.

James Mumford, defending, said Disney’s offences were ‘undeniably serious’ but that the issues were isolated after ‘five years trouble-free’.

He said: “It is significant that the commencement of the relationship with the victim has seen the last five years practically trouble-free.

“In broad terms, it was a happy and stable relationship, they have three children together and Mr Disney had hoped March 2011 would mark the end of his offending.

“Amphetamine has been a problem for a substantial time but had been under control, but in October the drug use spiked after he lost his job as a roofer, and things at home became not great very quickly.”

During sentencing, the magistrates ordered Disney to serve a four-month prison sentence for the three assaults, pay £380 in compensation and obey a restraining order relating to Ms Parrotte for two years.

They said: “We have long considered this and do not lightly send people to prison, but these were nasty offences in front of the defendant’s children.”